Band : Slaves To Fashion
Album title : Slaves To Fashion
Label : Fish Farm Records
Distributor : Fish Farm Records
Release date : September 2009
Release : (3-track) EPCD

This Haugesund based Norwegian band used to go under the name of P:O:B (short for Pedestrians Of Blue). After two EPs (which got the band the attention of labels from across the globe), P:O:B decided to do their own thing and released the full-length album Crossing Over on their own Fish Farm Records label in early Summer 2007. A review of that album, written by yours truly, was posted on 06/09/2007 with a more-than-justified 95/100 rating, and is still available for your scrutiny.

Fast forward two years…well no, let’s check out how the band fared in the meantime, eh? The Crossing Over got about 100 reviews from all over the world, none of which had even the slightest negative thing to say. Quite the contrary, many reviewers giving the album among the higher scores! In the Summer of 2007, P:O:B enjoyed a small hit in the local radio charts with the song “Promises”, and they made their first gig abroad (Finland) in early 2008. So, now let’s fast-forward to early 2009…and the band’s masterminds Johannes Stöle (lead vocals, keyboards, programming) and Torfinn Sirnes (guitar, programming) have found themselves steady companions in bassist John Henry Lind (replaced Rudolf Fredly) and drummer Vidar Ingvaldsen, returning with a new 3-track EP under the new monciker of Slaves To Fashion.

Other than the line-up and band name, nothing much has changed about this band. Their music still is a blend of great Hard Rock & Progressive Metal with high melodic content and modern sound, and with Johannes still singing, the vocal part of the band is still the same as well. To their “what we sound like” tagging, the band has added A Perfect Circle to the list of Queensrÿche, Dream Theater, Black Sabbath and Toto, and perhaps their list of influences has grown a bit more since last we came in contact with them, but these guys are still ever-so-wonderful as they were before!

With the EP’s songs already posted at myspace.com/slavestofashion and being distributed by the likes of CDBaby and iTunes (the versions available through those media both containing a bonus track in the form of an acoustic version of the Crossing Over song “The Garden”)since September of last, you may wonder why we were sent a copy of the EP so late for review? You know, personally I fully understand why! Although the band has its own recording studio (where Torfinn is even able to do the mastering), sending out promo material has become a costly affair, and so a band will want to spend its money on its immediate area of influence, before looking further! Name dropping being important in getting attention, I will not falter to let you know STF has picked Mike Hartung (known from collaborating with the likes of A-ha and Enslaved, among others) did the mixing for lead single “Mrs. Hero” (for which the band already recorded a video clip, which you can view on their MySpace), the track making it to “Song Of the Month” on UK based on-line radio show Overloaded (overloadedrocks.com) on CRMR Radio. Now, this EP only being an introduction to a full-length the band is currently working on, hopes are high we may encounter STF again this year! By the way, one Stein Arild Grömas played additional guitar, but it wasn’t mentioned on which track, if not on all three!

95/100

Tony.